


That One Summer...

by olivefoss



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alcohol, Gen, M/M, Minor Violence, Recreational Drug Use, Summer Jobs, but just to be safe, i say all that but its all really really minor, kind of crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 02:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8827396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olivefoss/pseuds/olivefoss
Summary: "We were up all night thinking this over. It’s a brilliant plan.”
Jinyoung blinks slowly, trying to keep his breathing even. “What plan?”
“To… get you fired?” He says, as if it’s the most obvious thing.





	

**Author's Note:**

> sorry, this is so dumb, enjoy?

Jinyoung really wasn’t expecting his first job to be at Walmart of all places, but a job was a job he supposes. The hours weren’t the best, some weeks he’d be scheduled only two days, and other weeks he was working five eight hour shifts straight. But alas, summer was nearing, and his year off after high school was soon coming to a close.

Jinyoung smiles as he notices his supervisor making her way up to him. Jinyoung was just in the middle of fixing up the ten dollar t-shirt display, taking care to properly fold the shirts.

“Hey, Jinyoung,” She smiles warmly, holding out a sheet of paper. “We got these forms in, for our upcoming hiring fair. Get a friend or someone whose looking for work this summer. If they get hired, you’ll for sure get a bonus on your check.” She winked, as Jinyoung took a look at the paper.

“Um… can I take a few more? If that’s alright.” Jinyoung asks.

His supervisor smiles and slips a few more out, “You must have a lot of friends desperate for work this summer?” She laughs as Jinyoung folds the sheets of paper and stuffs them into his vest.

“Yeah, I guess.” Oh this was perfect, a bonus? He really only got a job working at Walmart in hopes of being able to afford his own car before he starts his first year at university. At this point he was so sick of relying on public transportation.

“Tell your friends good luck. I hope they’ll be able to get a job here!”

Jinyoung smiles back and watches as his supervisor walks off. He then turns to look at his pile of neatly folded—or well, at least they _were_ neatly folded just a few minutes ago—t-shirts. Jinyoung sighs and gets back to work folding.

\--

Jinyoung leaves just shortly after four thirty, his ride waiting outside for him in a beat up minivan.

“Hey, how was work?” Jackson asks, as Jinyoung slides into the passenger seat.

“You know, absolutely fantastic, thanks for asking.” Jackson shifts the van into drive, ready to pull out of the parking lot. “It’s retail. You know?”

Jackson, who does not have a job, gives him a pointed stare. “No. I don’t know.”

“Good. Never find out.” Jinyoung almost leaves the statement at that, but then his hands collide with a crumbly piece of paper in his vest pocket, as he was preparing to take it off. “Actually…” He says as he pulls out the folded ‘Refer a Friend’ sheets.

Against his better judgement he shows the referral sheet to Jackson. Forgetting belatedly that Jackson is driving, and also Jackson is very easily distracted, as he swerves into the other lane. He quickly rights himself and honks his horn. Jackson may be an idiot, but at least he has the decency to let other people know that fact as well.

“Just tell me what it is. I don’t want to get into another accident.”

“It’s a referral sheet. If you apply at Walmart and fill this form out saying I referred you I can get some cash.”

Jackson nods his head. It takes him a moment.

“Wait, you’re saying I can get a job at Walmart?”

“Yes. We’re having a hiring fair for the summer.”

Jackson looks like he contemplates this. But really he’s just realizing that he’s in the wrong lane if he needs to take that turn. Fuck it. Jackson decides anyway to disrupt traffic and almost cause an accident by changing lanes in the middle of the intersection. Jinyoung casually reaches for the safety bar, wondering, not for the first time, who let Jackson have a drivers licence, and if they would ever consider taking it back.

“Okay. But that means having to work at Walmart.”

“C’mon, Jacks. Do you want money?”

Jackson is silent, of course he wants money. He needs it. He _craves_ it.

“How do you always do this to me? That whole… talking me into doing things I don’t want to do thing.”

Jinyoung tries not to smirk, placing one of the referral sheets onto the center consol.

\--

Eventually, they make it to Jinyoung’s place, only coming close to running over two people. But they were, like, super old people, so it doesn’t count (they have a points system. Small children and Old people don’t count for any points; let’s be real, that’s just cruel.)

Once Jinyoung changes out of his uniform and puts some food in his dog’s dish, he settles down on the futon in the rec room. He pulls out his phone and sends a quick text to Mark, his other completely jobless friend.    

_Hey my workplace is having a hiring fair, and I have a few referral sheets. Did you want to fill one out? Come work with me at Walmart?_

Mark’s reply was almost instant.

_Oh. Ok._

_Wait. Ur serious? LOL_

Jinyoung sighs.

_Please, it would be rly awesome of you if u could._ _♥♥_

C’mon Mark, Jinyoung hardly ever pulls out the cute heart emojis.

Almost as if swayed by this, Marks reply came only a few moments later.

_U kill me. Fine ill come by sometime…_

Well… that’s almost a victory.

Ah, well. Two jobless friends, will now hopefully find a job, only a few more to go! And then finally, Jinyoung can rest easy knowing he’ll be driving in a new car before summer ends.

\--

The next time Jackson picks Jinyoung up after work, Jackson tells him how he got a call back after applying.

“So I didn’t even know that people did over the phone interviews. Like, I’ve heard of Skype interviews, and like… in person interviews.” Jackson taps his fingers on the steering wheel to the song playing on the radio. “Honestly, though, I don’t even know what position they’re hiring me for. I kind of just glazed over the whole thing.”

“Maybe you should stop smoking so much pot?” Jinyoung carefully suggests.

“What!?” Incredulous, Jackson swerves, narrowly missing a bicyclist “Jinyoung, I _don’t_ smoke weed. I get high off life.”

Jinyoung coughs.

“Hopefully it’s not something shit.”

“It’s going to be something shit.”

“You’re usually right.”

\--

Mark phones Jinyoung while he was on his lunch break.

“ _I got a call back…_ ” Mark sounds kind of unsure.

“Okay!” Jinyoung tries to say enthusiastically.

“ _But I’m going to be a buggy boy?”_

There’s nothing wrong with that. Jinyoung tells him this.

“The worst thing, I applied for so many positions, but they want me to work outside, in this heat, retrieving carts? I’m not going to last a month.”

Mark is never this whiny, unless it’s toward Jinyoung. Jinyoung just sighs.

\--

Jinyoung finds out that Jackson had applied to be a buggy boy too. He tells him about how Mark is going to work with him. Jackson seems to brighten about this fact. Those two are terrible together.

Jinyoung just hopes that chaos does not ensue. Fingers crossed.

\--

A few days later Jinyoung is informed that two more of his friends managed to score positions. Jaebum got a job at the customer service counter (let’s see how long that lasts. Jaebum isn’t exactly the most sociable person. Or at all for that matter.) Yugyeom managed to score a position in bakery (nice!) Jinyoung heard that employees get to take left overs home with them, which is surprisingly charitable for Walmart.

On top of Jinyoung’s referrals Jaebum managed to get his roommate a position in the deli. Youngjae is still pretty young, so it’s nice to see him saving up for whatever college courses he may be taking this coming academic year.

Jackson and Mark seem to be enjoying their positions as buggy boys. Especially on days where they get to work together. It doesn’t take long for the stories to roll in.

“So me ‘n’ Mark were just rounding up some loose carts, and you would not believe the shit we find in those things like… okay. Just nasty shit.”

Jinyoung just nods along, really not paying attention at all.

“SO! We found a legit condom. Okay. Are you listening?”

Jinyoung raises his eyebrows and looks at Jackson with mild disgust.

“No joke.”

“Was it...” Dare he say “…used?”

“…Yes.”

Mark pops out of nowhere with two water bottles, handing one over to Jackson. “Hey, at least there’ll be one less baby in this world with gross parents.”

“Right? What baby wants to be told it was conceived in a Walmart parking lot?”

Jinyoung scrunches his eyebrows at this.

\--

Jinyoung’s shift was practically over, so he was hanging out near the customer service check. Jaebum got off in about half an hour, so he was waiting for his shift to finish. Word on the street is Jaebum is a much safer driver than Jackson. Jackson was also driving Mark today (how management allowed those two work together was a mystery. He gets nightmares listening to Jackson shout about how “teamwork makes the dream work.” Poor Mark.)

All of a sudden Jinyoung could hear a loud fire alarm sound. This made Jaebum looked up from his binder full of returns. “Does… that happen a lot around here?”

“…No?” Jinyoung seems to really think this over.

Remembering their training, both Jinyoung and Jaebum head out the closet exit, and make their way toward their meet up place for attendance. He doesn’t smell any smoke, and when he looks at the store, he doesn’t see any.

They make their way to the farthest cart return, where a few supervisors and managers are standing, counting heads.

That’s odd. Jinyoung thinks as two employees he _knows_ are working are the last few to show up. Both red faced and refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Honestly, Jinyoung’s first reaction, is one of concern. But of course, considering these two…

Of course his thoughts are interrupted by the blaring of an ominous siren. At that moment, two bright red fire trucks pull into the store parking lot. In the distance, Jinyoung can see a few employees herding customers outside.

Jinyoung returns his attention to the two idiots he calls friends.

“What did you two do?”

“It was Jackson—“

“We didn’t do anything—“ They both spoke over each other.

“Jackson wanted to go home early.”

“No I didn’t, it was an accident I swear!”

“That’s why you leaned on the emergency exit? After saying ‘oh man I want to go home’? And also ‘remember that time in high school when I pulled the fire alarm, twenty minutes before class ended and we got to go home early?’”

“ACCIDENT! AND THAT HAPPENED WHEN I WAS SIXTEEN YOU CAN’T CALL ME OUT ON THAT.”

The two’s bickering was overhead by a supervisor.

“Wait, one of you two pulled the fire alarm on purpose?” He was positively fuming.

Jinyoung places his face into his palms and groans loudly, as Jackson shouts in protest. Great.

\--

Jackson got a suspension from work. They can’t fire him, really. It _was_ an accident. Although he did get a pretty stern talking to from a few firemen (“stern” is the nice way of putting it). Mark was also given the same speech, and had shiny new strike put on his record, one to match Jackson’s. Later he would go off and mutter about “guilt by association.” And make a few heated remarks. But at least he didn’t lose any time off of his schedule.

At least every one of his other referrals seem to be behaving. Yugyeom, for example, seemed to be loving his job. Jinyoung didn’t check up on him much, but he was always happily munching away.

Considering the bakery and deli are right next to each other, he and Youngjae seem to get along swimmingly. Yugyeom mentions sneaking snacks to the kid. Jinyoung approves, as the kid seems like it wouldn’t hurt to gain a few pounds. Regardless, he’s glad that those two get along.

\--

But just as things were getting better—Jackson was back to work—the fire alarm went off, a second time.

Great. Wonderful. The wonderful world of Walmart. Jinyoung sighs as he reaches the far cart return not for the first time this summer. Except this time there is an actual fire. Customers are literally running out of the store.

The fire looked like it was just over the McDonalds. Oh good. So it wasn’t one of his stupid idiot friends that set themselves on fire… probably. Wait… did he just think ‘oh good?’

For the second time this month, the fire fighters show up. Though this time there is an actual fire to fight.

Jinyoung kind of feels bad for feeling relieved.

That is until he looks to the left and sees Jackson shoving his finger in his nose, as if he doesn’t realize he’s in public. Then he sort of wishes he _had_ set himself on fire. Oh well, There’s always next time.

\--

They find out the culprit for the fire. Some dumb rich kid who was working at McDonalds somehow managed to start a grease fire. Yugyeom knows him apparently. Awesome.

Part of the McDonalds was burnt, extra crispy style. So safe to say it was going to be shut down for a little while. Over the next few days, white tarps were put up around it and an under construction signs were placed around it. Jinyoung was a little upset. Where was he going to get his disgustingly greasy 50% meal discount food now? (Not to mention that kid who always (always) charged him for a medium smoothie but gave him a large. Wherever that kid was now, he hoped he was thriving.)

\--

It was one of those rare Fridays that are actually Fridays. Jinyoung has the whole weekend off, but unfortunately no one to spend it with. Either way he was looking forward to his two (in a row!) days off.

On his way out of the store though, he caught a confrontation at the bakery. Which is not something he sees often. Normally he would walk away and pretend as if he had not seen anything. Though, this time it involved Yugyeom. Oh no. Not Yugyeom, anyone but Yugyeom.

From the gist of the conversation, he understood: “this is the final time I’m going to warn you. If I catch you eating while on shift one more time, you’re fired. Do you understand?”

Oh no.

Just as he looks up, he notices Yugyeom staring at him, with a look of panic. Oh god, does this mean this entire time Yugyeom’s been stealing? Jinyoung has secretly been slipped food during his breaks, thinking that he’s been allowed to do that.

Just then the PA system silenced the soft rock radio station playing in the background.

“ _Security to customer service. Security to customer service_.” And then the thudding sound of someone slamming the phone onto the receiver.

What is it now? Whatever, his shift is over. He is leaving. He is OUT.

Except, it’s not really, because curiosity takes over, and Jaebum is not waiting out front like he said he would be. So really he’s just checking to see if he’s been caught up in this mess and unable to leave because he’s a witness… or something?

What he was expecting to see at the Customer Service booth, was Jaebum standing dumbfounded. What he actually saw when he got to Customer Service, was Jaebum, with a bloody fist, being held back by a security guard.

Jinyoung has officially lost all hope.

Jinyoung waits outside the holding room for Jaebum. The door propped open just a little bit, so Jinyoung can hear, loud and clear: “You’re fired.”

Out of all of his friends, he was _not_ expecting the first person to get fired would be Jaebum (it’s probably bad that he was thinking about which of his friends are most likely to get fired from a job in the first place.)

Like, honestly.

\--

Jackson sits in the break room, elbows on the table, head in his hands, and staring listlessly at the television. The news is on mute playing something about a bear attack. There are a few people near him chatting quietly and munching on their lunch.

“Jackson!” Jackson shakes out of it and lifts his head out of his hands and stares at the person interrupting his blanked out break-time bliss.

Mark is standing at the entrance of the break room, hair matted to his head with sweat, as if he ran all the way across the parking lot seeking Jackson.

“Did you hear?”

“Huh? Hear what?” Jackson turns fully, suddenly interested.

“Jaebum got fired for punching the shit out of someone.”

This has several people’s attention. The chatting and munching stop, as everyone looks toward Mark with curiosity in their eyes.

“Huh…” Jackson looks down at his hands. “Out of all of us, the last person I expected to get fired was Jaebum.”

“Dude, that’s pretty shitty of you to even think which of us were most likely to get fired in the first place.”

“Dude, my first couple of weeks working here I set off a false fire alarm, Yugyeom steals food, and you made a fake code Adam over the PA system last week just to see what would happen, and I’m pretty sure people still don’t know that it was you. Out of all of us, Jaebum is probably the most level-headed.”

Mark nods his head. “I see your point.” And with everyone’s eyes on him, he quickly makes a break for it.

\--

Admittedly, putting Jackson in charge of training a few new people, is probably one of the worse ideas management has had. That said, he’s so far doing a decent job at showing what they should do. However, Jackson’s methods don’t exactly follow protocol most of the time. Once Jackson saw a shopping cart all the way into the parking lot of the apartments next door. Now, Jackson takes his job very seriously, retrieving carts is his _duty_ and he will retrieve all the carts he possibly can as quickly as possible. This sometimes involves climbing a fence (ignoring the fact that this is private property) and casually tossing a cart over said fence (explaining why some shopping carts have busted-up wheels.) He’s even been caught running across a main road to retrieve a cart that somehow rolled all the way to the other side.

So, really Jackson should most definitely not be training these new kids in the art of being a buggy boy.

Despite how hard he works, Jackson despises his job. Since his first suspension, he’s been under so much scrutiny from supervisors and fellow employees. Though, he’s never been scolded for his work style or methods up to this point.

Some kid, following his instruction climbed a fence, while trying to retrieve a cart from the apartment parking lot, and consequently got his foot stuck. He ended up having to go to the ER, and when asked why he climbed the fence, he said Jackson told him to.

Jackson is now sitting with the head of his department. The head of the department had his hands folded and propping up his chin.

“Why did you think it would be okay to tell people the hop a fence to get a cart?”

“’Cause that cart belongs to Walmart, and deserves to be returned to its home.”

His boss seems to mull this over unfolding his hands and letting them rest on the top of his desk. He can’t tell how serious Jackson is being.

“A fellow employee got injured today following your instruction.”

“In my defence, I didn’t explicitly tell him to hop the fence.”

“He was following your example.”

Jackson nods his head. Stretching his fingers out on his thighs, tapping a rhythm onto them.

“Not to forget, he was trespassing onto private property”

“So… you’re telling me. If someone steals _our_ private property… they don’t have to deal with the consequences? But if _I_ break onto private property, that is considered a bad thing?”

His boss blinks slowly, leaning back in his (comfortable looking) chair. “Unfortunately…” He pauses for a moment to try and subtly look at Jackson’s name tag. “Jackson, I’m going to report this to head management. You’ll be considered responsible for trespassing, and endangering fellow employees.”

“Are you going to fire me?”

His boss gives him a look.

“That’s not to be decided by me. But, quite frankly, Jackson, you are a dangerous employee. You’ve been here a month, and have caused more destruction than this store has seen in all six years it has been open. So I wouldn’t rule that out as a possibility.”

Jackson leans back in his (squeaky wooden—uncomfortable) chair, and stares at the ceiling thinking about how that’s even possible. “Do you want me to go now?”

“Please.”

\--

Jackson finds out later that day that they no longer want him working there.

\--

The next day, Yugyeom gets a phone call from a frantic (crying?) sounding Jackson.

“Please, you have to.” Is what he hears muffled over the stereo (since he’s driving he has his phone hooked up to an AUX cord, set to speaker. It’s his sort of DIY hands free phone set up.)

“What?” He says. He looks for a place along the side of the road to park. This seems like it’s going to be a conversation that requires his full attention.

So he finds a place to park. Slightly afraid for Jackson at that moment.

“Okay, I’m parked, tell me, what did you want me to do?”

Jackson hiccups, and calms his breathing. “I lost my job.”

Yugyeom nods out of habit. “I’m so sorry.”

“But listen okay?”

Yugyeom listens.

“This means Mark doesn’t have a ride to work. You’re the only friend that still works at Walmart that has a car.” Jackson seems to calm down, sniffling only every now and then. “You have to, please.”

“Uh…” Yugyeom stares at the radio clock for a few moments. “Why? Don’t you have your licence?”

The frantic breathing on the other end seems to pick up again. “I can’t face him right now. I let the whole team down.”

Fuck. No. It’s been weeks since he’s had to hear anything about teamwork from Jackson.

“Dude. I’ll do my best… okay. Just don’t say that again.”

“Thanks… man, thanks.” Yugyeom can’t really tell but Jackson seems to have brightened at this. “I owe you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Hey. Can you do me a huge favour though?”

“Yeah?”

“He kind of needs a ride. Like now. He’s going to be late for work. And if he’s late one more time he’ll be in the same position as me.”

Yugyeom’s glad Jackson can’t see him repeatedly thumping his head on the steering wheel.

\--

After a quick ( _“quick”_ ) detour, Yugyeom picks up Mark and they manage to make it to work with only seconds to spare. Mark is making a mad dash toward the time clock, Yugyeom is already dreading work. Lately his main supervisor has been making it no secret that she really, _really_ doesn’t like Yugyeom. Her breathing down his neck at every chance, is grating on his nerves. All because she caught him one or two (three or four) times stealing food, and spending too much time hanging out on the deli side chatting with Youngjae (he can’t help himself, he’s smitten.)

He gets on shift, and there she is, standing with her foot tapping. He’s not late, by any means. The time on the clock says he still has thirty seconds before his shift starts.

Immediately he makes his way to the hand washing station and scrubs his hands, (trying not to sing the stupid happy birthday bull-crap in his head—but at this point it’s inevitable) cleaning any grime off them and making sure to dry his hands and use the paper towel to shut off the tap. And he’s on shift with ten seconds to spare.

He does his best to give a bright, cheery smile to the supervisor, (however much it pains him to do) and takes the chance to look at this work assignment for the day. He’s on cupcake duty today. Yugyeom is pretty meticulous, so being able to decorate little details on the mini cupcakes is one of the more relaxing things he can do at work. Plus it makes it easy to ignore his supervisor, as she’s currently working on prep.

He’s about to open the second bag of frosting for the day, when he drops the scissors on the floor. Oh good, God. He does not want to go through the washing and sanitizing process for _scissors_ , so he just picks them up and cuts the tip of the frosting bag.

This, however, does not get unnoticed.

“Yugyeom.”

Yugyeom tenses. Looking over his shoulder, there stands his supervisor, with a curl to her lip. Oh-oh.

Honestly it wasn’t even that big of a deal, his supervisor just so happens to be the super nit-picky, high and mighty type that takes her job as supervisor incredibly seriously, and lately it’s really been grating on his nerves. So in honestly, it’s her constantly treating him like a child that makes him finally snap.

(The scissor sized hole in the wall will forever be a reminder of the day Yugyeom Lost His Cool.)

\--

“Why do the only people that know how to drive end up getting fired?” Jinyoung says with a frustrated groan, as he once again has to wait for Jackson to pick him up from work. It doesn’t help he’s apparently so afraid to run into Mark, that he has to wait outside Walmart property for him to pick him up. At least, it beats waiting for the bus (or does it?)

Jackson, doesn’t look at him, just (surprisingly) keeps his eyes on the road.

“Jacks.”

Jackson still doesn’t look over.

“What’s wrong with you?”

He’s silent for a beat more, until Jinyoung threatens him with violence.

“I’ve once again let Mark down. How do I keep doing this?”

Jinyoung rolls his eyes. “It’s not your fault Yugyeom got fired. Maybe he shouldn’t have pissed off his supervisor.” Jackson doesn’t reply, so Jinyoung takes that as his chance to keep talking “You know—“

“How is my best friend in the entire world going to get to work now?”

Jinyoung pretends like he contemplates this for a moment before replying, “Gee, I wonder Jackson. If only his best friend in the entire world knew how to drive?”

Jackson finally looks at him. “How could you say that?”

“Jackson. Mark doesn’t hate you.”

Jackson swerves at that moment, weirdly enough, Jinyoung considers this a positive thing.

“Yes he does.” He practically wails.

“Mark is too proud to admit it, but I know for a fact, Jackson, that he misses the crap out of you. So you have to do something about it. Okay? Go home tonight, phone him and ask him if he needs a ride to work.”

“It’s that easy?” Jackson asks.

“It’s that easy,” Jinyoung confirms.

\--

Jackson and Mark are back on speaking terms again. Mark is still super confused as to why Jackson stopped speaking to him in the first place, but he’s glad that he’s no longer being ignored.

“I got my last paycheck yesterday,” Jackson enthuses.

Mark nods his head, knowing exactly where this is going. “So…?”

Jackson has a mischievous glint to his eye, as he glances at the liquor store across from them.

Mark follows his gaze. “Hold on, I’m going to ask Jinyoung if he wants to join us.”

Jackson lolls his head back and groans, “Of course you are.”

“Hey, Jinyoung’s fun.”

Jackson just stares at Mark’s profile, while he’s dialing Jinyoung.

\--

Jinyoung _is_ fun, Jackson decides.

They’re treating themselves to a bottle of jäger and a couple of six packs, sitting on Jacksons back porch. They’re chatting aimlessly about work. Mark divulges into how much he really hates working there now that he doesn’t have Jackson to be weird with. Mark expresses how he thinks he’s too boring on his own. The new kids pick on him, telling him how he “used to be fun.”

Jackson laughs uproariously, even tilting his head back. However, he puts Mark in a headlock, roughly messing up his hair. “That’s not true, you’re the coolest dude I know.” Mark attempts to push him off, but fails, eventually being forced into submission.

Jackson muses that he’s looking for work soon. He has about five dollars to his name and his minivan is running on fumes. Mark groans, as this means he really doesn’t have a ride to work. He could always ask Jaebum, but he’s been AWOL since he lost his job. No one talks about Jaebum, and how he unintentionally started a chain reaction of people getting fired.

Jinyoung ends up spending the night sleeping on Jacksons couch. Mark takes the floor (with several blankets separating him from the crusting feeling pile.) Jurassic park plays on the clunky old television. Mark stares at his phone, wondering briefly if Jinyoung had work the next day; he never bothered to ask.

Mark looks toward Jinyoung, softly snoozing on the couch (he won’t mention the little bit of drool for the sake of his own safety.)

\--

Turns out Jinyoung, does have to work the very next day.

And he is pissed the fuck off. He takes one of Jacksons travel mugs and fills it with coffee, and a bottle of aspirin, while he forces Jackson to drive him to work.

Mark lays still on the floor of the living room, pretending to still be asleep. Hoping the hangover will go away if he lays as still as possible.

Mark feels the house shake as the door slams shut. As if his head wasn’t already on full on tilt-a-whirl mode.

When Jackson returns, Mark still hasn’t moved from his spot on the floor.

“Dude.” Jackson says as he sits down beside Mark’s head. “We’re never inviting Jinyoung out to drink ever again. It’s just gonna be a bros kind of thing. Are you cool with that?”

Mark sighs. He lifts himself off the floor and looks at Jackson with bloodshot eyes. Jackson, on the other hand, looks completely fine. He looks dandy. Chipper even. Mark swears he’s never seen Jackson sleep.

“He’s soooooo grouchy.” He tips his head back, and finally lets a hint at being exhausted. Unfortunately, Mark and Jinyoung were asleep before the movie ended, so the TV is still on, and buzzing. Jackson gets up and moves toward the TV, hitting rewind on the VCR player (who has a VCR player anymore? Jackson that’s who. Walking into Jackson’s house is like walking into the 90’s. He even has a foosball table.)

Mark groans and stretches his arms above his head. “What time’s it?”

Jackson seems too engrossed in watching Jurassic Park in reverse to bother answering Mark. Mark takes that as his que to get up and pull his phone out.

“Ah,” Mark, looking down at his phone, says softly. He has about three missed calls from work. “Hey did you know it was Tuesday?”

Jackson looks over at this. “No, since I got fired, I’ve completely lost track of time. Actually now that I think about it that started happening when I graduated from high school.”

“I think I was supposed to work today.”

“Huh.”

“Like, two hours ago.” Mark mutters, now looking at his schedule on the website.

“Huh…” Still staring at the pixels on the TV. “OH! FUCK.”

Mark, sets his phone down and sighs. “Is it too late to phone in sick?”

“Dude, if they fire you… who the fuck cares. Come find a job with me!”

\--

Mark phones work. He explains the situation. They tell him not to bother coming in. They don’t mention anything about firing him, so he takes that as a good sign. Though, when he shows up the next day he’s scheduled, the department head is there staring at him with a quirked eyebrow. He directs him to go speak with so-and-so in the office.

This was his third time being late, that’s three strikes. They decide to let him go.

\--

At work the next day, Jinyoung is in a terrible mood. He has his head in his hands, standing at the clothing department desk. Why are all his friends’ idiots? He’s half tempted to quit his job, now that he’s back at square one. But finding a job in this economy…

Jinyoung shakes his head when he notices a woman standing in front of him. “Can I try these on?” Jinyoung blinks a few times, then nods his head, “Oh by the way. Do you think you can watch my son? He’s right over there by the woman’s lingerie.” She vaguely points.

But then again, he _could_ get fired. Save himself the trouble of turning in a notice. He thinks back to all his friends that have been fired. Punching someone in the face is cause for immediate termination. Though Jinyoung couldn’t kill a bug if he tried. Being a bad role model? To whom? He’s basically the only one that works in this department. Sassing a supervisor? As if his supervisor wont bite back twice as hard. Repeated no shows? But Jinyoung wants money…

Oh god, why is he even thinking about getting fired in the first place? Jinyoung realizes, belatedly, that he never bothered actually watch the woman’s son, when he looks up from his station and over at the lingerie. Alas, there is no child there. Fuck.

The woman smiles as she comes back out, clothing in hand. When she looks around for her child, her smile disappears. “Where’s my son?”

Jinyoung starts to look around as well. “He couldn’t have gone far.”

“I asked you to do one thing for me! And now my child is missing!”

This got the attention of a few of the shoppers around them.

Jinyoung looks around frantically, hoping the kid was nearby. He wasn’t, and when he turned around, the mother was nowhere to be seen either, a pile of rumpled sweaters left in her haste.

Jinyoung, in his panic, decides to hide behind his station, crouching in an upright fetal position. While down there he sees the kid, peeking underneath one of the changing stalls. He freezes.

What a perverted child; who lets their children act like this in public?

Jinyoung gets up and stomps toward the child—well if his mother isn’t going to do anything, you bet Jinyoung is. He grabs the kid by the arm, dragging him away from the changing room (whether or not it’s occupied, Jinyoung isn’t sure, but that’s beside the point.)

Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on how you look at the situation—Jinyoung dragging a terrified child behind him, with a furious expression) the kids mother shows back up looking just as furious.

“Take your hand off my child.”

“H-he was peeking under the dressing room doors.” Jinyoung tries to protest.

“He can do whatever he wants! I don’t put restraints on my child.” The child runs over to his mother and hugs her knees. Jinyoung wants to rip his hair out. Who lets their child act out like this in public? Jinyoung wants to state his opinion on the matter.

However, it comes out harsher than he was expecting.

“I’m not a parent, but I know that letting a child run around—peeking under dressing room doors—and excusing that child’s actions as being raised without restraint, is a great reflection on how awful of a parent you are; what this is is negligence. I wouldn’t be surprised if your child grew up to be a murderer, or worse, a rapist!”

Jinyoung can see the red in the woman’s eyes. Oh fuck. Usually he’s better at controlling himself.

“I want to speak with your manager. This isn’t how you treat customers.” She all but spat.

Jinyoung places his face in his palms, groaning internally. Pretty sure this wasn’t how he was expecting to get fired. Now that he thinks about it—really thinks about it, he really doesn’t want to get fried in the first place. Despite how lonely and boring it is without his crappy friends, a job is a job. He makes decent money here, and he gets along with his few coworkers just fine. Losing this job means losing his income, which means he might not be able to buy a car by the end of the summer like he initially planned.

Fuck, now he was _really_ panicking.

\--

He doesn’t know how his friends did it. Got fired, that is. Jinyoung has never been fired before, never even had detention before. He feels like he’s letting everyone down.

Maybe he’s over thinking things. It won’t be so bad.

His supervisors smiling face makes his heart leap into his throat. Jinyoung is sweating (probably.)

“Jinyoung…” She starts.

Jinyoung doesn’t look away from the very interesting spot on the wall just behind his supervisor.

He’s expecting a lot of reprimanding. What he gets in place is a handkerchief in his line of vision. Jinyoung reaches for it.

“Relax.” God bless his supervisors ridiculously laid bad aura. “It’s just a write up.”

Wait, what?

Oh god, even worse.

Wait, how is that _worse_ than getting fired?

Oh yeah, probably because he still has to face the disappointment from his coworkers and supervisor.

“Between you and me, that woman was a tad ridiculous.”

Jinyoung’s shoulders slump.

“If that were my child.” His supervisor rolls her eyes and clenches her fists. “Ooooh, boy.” She clears her throat. “Regardless, I still need to write you up, however this pains me to do so. Unfortunately, I have to abide by the whole…” She flairs her hand in front of her sarcastically, “‘ _the customer is always right’_ thing. That or my manager will have my head…”

After writing on a sheet of paper, pulled out of a hot pink duo-tang, his supervisor hands Jinyoung a sheet and a blue ball point pen.

“I just need you to sign here, to confirm I gave you a verbal coaching…”

Jinyoung isn’t sure he can hold his hands still enough to sign on the line.

Guessing, somehow he manage to do that, he catches the paper sliding back into the pink duo-tang, and underneath his supervisors arm.

“Okay! No more slip ups! Let’s do this.”

Jinyoung wasn’t quite sure how he was going to be able to finish the rest of his shift. He decided to ditch, making an excuse to his coworkers that he needed the washroom, and hiding out there for the rest of his shift.

He went home that night feeling lethargic. He couldn’t even greet his dog with as much enthusiasm. He’s a real sport, he tells him. Never disappointed in him, even when he isn’t in the mood for belly rubs. He curls up at the foot of his bed, on a blanket that is more dog fur than blanket at this point. His phone vibrates with a notification just as he settles down, wrapping his comforter around his shoulders.

_Hey u fired yet_

Jackson sends.

Okay, rude, he decides.

_What are u talking about, why would I get fired?_

_Cause works sucks w/o ur fav boys so u prob plottin how to get fired rn_

_Ok? No?? I mean I got a write up today, but that doesn’t mean I wanna get fired…_

He stares at the screen, watching the thought bubble appear and disappear.

_Its mark, don’t listen to anything he says, he’s crazy._

Yeah, no shit.

Another few moments of silence.

_WERE GONNA GET U FIRED!!!_

He has the image of those two wrestling while trying to take the phone from each other.

_Hes crazy!!! Jinyoung don’t listn to him_

_YES LISTEN TO ME. Listen, are u listening?_

Jinyoung wants to turn his phone off, throw it at the wall or something.

_I assume by ur silence that ur listening. Okay I have to be quick , I’m hiding in a closet_

What else is new, Jackson.

_Jinyoung, donTeven!!!!!!!!!!_

He sends, as if he just read Jinyoung’s mind.

_Me n mark were thinking, like, what if we all got fired. Everyone of us pretty much already have, right? We can hve like a cool story to tell like “that one summer we all got fired from Walmart.”_

_I don’t like this idea_

_WRONG. Jinyoung, you don’t like ur job._

_Okay, true, but I still want money??_

_Ca Pi Ta Li Sm_

_Back on track, like what if i????_

_No._

_WHAT IF I??? helped u get fired. I seem to be pretty good at fycking shit up._

_Yea u are._

_Thank YOU. Someone agrees with me._

_What do you say_

_Still no._

_When u work next?_

_Tomorrow, 2-6_

_;)_

What the fuck. He should have not told him.

(However, he won’t admit it, but he is sort of curious about what Jackson has up his sleeve)

\--

Jinyoung gets to work using the bus that day, which drops him off with just enough time to get ready and be on the floor.

He mentally prepares himself, _relax, no one give a shit if you got a write up, it’s not that bad. You only have a four hour shift, you’re going to kill it._ What he regrets to notice is the beat up minivan in the parking lot, somehow taking up four spaces, with the lights still on. _What could go wrong during a four hour shift?_

\--

Really, it’s a surprise to Jinyoung that Jackson is sitting pretty behind his work station, sitting on his stool and scribbling on post-it-notes, all while rocking slightly to the sides and giggling every so often.

He takes back his earlier statement. A _lot_ could go wrong on a four hour shift.

Jinyoung sighs, audibly, gaining the attention of Jackson. His short blond hair bobbing stiffly as he looks up.

“Jacks, I’m not doing this today.”

Jackson grins mischievously, stuffing his post-it’s into his shorts pocket.

“C’mon! We were up all night! Drinkin’ I mean thinking this over. It’s a brilliant plan.”

Jinyoung blinks slowly, trying to keep his breathing even. “What plan?”

“To… get you fired?” He says, as if it’s the most obvious thing.

“How are you going to do that?”

Jackson moves his hands around a bit, “Y’know…” He takes out the post it notes, “Operation Jackson gets Jinyoung fired.” He quickly stuffs it back into his pocket, “We were telling you about it last night, remember?”

“Okay? But you weren’t being serious.”

“Jinyoung, Jinyoung, Jinyoung. It’s me. Of course I’m serious. And I’m afraid I’m not leaving today, unless it’s with you, and you are out of a job. Or until they kick me out or something, I think I saw my old boss earlier. He may or may not have recognized me, and I may or may not have _accidentally_ gently bumped a shopping cart into his car while pulling into the parking lot.”

Jinyoung stares and blinks at him a few times.

“Okay, well. If he didn’t fire me, then the shopping cart wouldn’t have been there in the first place!”

“Can I get to work, please?”

Jackson groans, like a kid not getting his way, one step away from stomping his feet.

Jinyoung, against his better judgment, decides to humour Jackson. He really can’t stand watching him act like a child.

“Fine. Hit me. What were your ideas?” He asks as he approaches the work station.

Jackson puts his hand out, stopping him. “I looked it up online. One of the top reasons people get fired is ‘cause they’re caught drinking on the job.” Jinyoung stands frozen, so Jackson takes this as his que to continue explaining. “I stole Mark’s bank card. Or I mean I _stole_ it, you can’t really call it stealing if he tells you his bank pin. With that I bought—“

“I’m going to stop you there. Jackson, first of all, I cannot believe you looked up how to get fired, and second of all even if I did want to get fired, or whatever, I’m not going to accomplish that by drinking on the job.”

“You’re right,” Jackson sighs, rounding the work station, but not quite leaving it. “That’s not really a thing Jinyoung would do. Definitely more of a ‘me’ thing.”

“…Not really. No offence.”

“That’s probably true.”

Jinyoung begins to round to the other side of the work station, Jackson seemed pretty adamant about not leaving, so he figures he’ll learn to tune out his presence eventually. He won’t lie though, having someone he knows here makes him a little less worried about his write up the day before.

“Wait.” The deepness and serious tone to Jackson’s voice halts him once more. “There may or may not be whatever I bought earlier under the desk.”

“Then get it out of here.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.” Jackson motions with one shoulder behind Jinyoung. Jinyoung turns his head unsurprised to see his always sunny, and cheerful supervisor, with her obnoxiously pink duo-tang. “Also, just real quick, don’t ask what, but something on this desk is booby trapped,” he says lightning fast before ducking down and working on pretending not to exist. Just real quick, Jinyoung wants to kick Jackson where the sun doesn’t shine.

Jinyoung’s supervisor looks a bit confused, clearly unable to miss the “disappearance” of a certain ex-Walmart employee, but otherwise uncaring.

“Ji~nyoung,” His supervisor calls once she reaches hearing distance, an embarrassed smile on her face. “I can’t believe I’ve done this, but the write up sheet I got you to sign the other day, I forgot a sheet! You need to sign it. His supervisor makes a show to reach for her breast pocket, only to leave empty handed. “Ah, there’s a pen.” A small squeak was heard from below the counter top. Jinyoung paid no mind to it.

It was like watching a disaster happen in slow motion. The cartridge to the pen exploded, ink getting on every surface, including but not limited to: Jinyoung’s face, Jinyoung’s supervisors face, Jinyoung’s supervisors hot pink duo-tang, and last but not least, the write up sheet that Jinyoung’s supervisor just finished pulling out of said hot pink duo-tang.

Jinyoung blinks a few times, staring at the now ruined… well, everything. It’s at that moment that Jackson decides is his time to stand up. Begrudgingly, Jinyoung notes that not a single drop of ink has touched Jackson’s gloriously oversized t-shirt, or perfectly styled blond hair.

“J-JINYOUNG! How could you?! Did you plan this? To sabotage your write up?!” Jackson shouts once he appears, throwing up his hands.

In Jinyoung’s state of panic he manages to stagger backward, trying not to touch anything, but desperately needing to get ink out of his eyes, in the process he knocks something over with his awkward footing. Whatever it was he must have knocked it pretty hard because he hears it shatter. And oh dear, judging by the smell that is probably what Jackson bought with his stolen bank card.

“What is this?!” Jinyoung’s supervisor practically screams. She manages to rub some of the ink off of her face, she stands absolutely shell shocked glaring at the bottle of whatever cheap beer Jackson purchased.

Jackson, instead of defusing the situation, like any normal person would, chose to escalate it. “Jinyoung? Since when did you start drinking Coors Lite? What kind of person are you? _Disgusting_!”

Jinyoung wants to cry.

“What the hell? An ‘Exploding Ink Pen’?” his supervisor reads carefully. “What is this doing here?”

“Yeah, Jinyoung? Care to explain?” Jackson scoffs from the sidelines.

As soon as Jinyoung can see, having managed to blink away the ink from his eyes, he watches as his supervisor pulls out the wireless phone from her vest.

“I think you need to speak with one of _your_ employees,” she says. Jinyoung blanks out the rest of the conversation. To shocked for words. You know the situation is bad when your supervisor and the manager for the department talk about you as if they were parents arguing over their awful child.

Jinyoung crumbles to the floor. Not even fifteen minutes into his shift, and everything is so fucked up. Today was supposed to be an easy day.

Just his luck, as well, Jackson fled the scene before the department manager arrives.

Unsurprisingly, he gets fired. The exact reasons were: defacing property, being in possession of alcohol while on shift, and inappropriate behaviour while on shift. His supervisor tried saying ‘ruining her top’ was also on that list, while the department head tried to push her out of the room.

On his way out of the main office, his ruined vest (“you’re supposed to return those, but you’ve destroyed it with your stupid prank, so instead it’s going to be taken out of your last paycheck”) hangs over his shoulder, reminding him of the (possibly) worst day of his life.

When he makes his way out to the parking lot, he spots Jackson, parked halfway on the curb in front of the store (where cars are not allowed to park—no really there is a sign.)

He sighs, when he climbs in, tossing the vest into the back seat.

Jackson smirks, holding up the rest of the pack of beer, that Jinyoung did not accidentally break.

He sighs again, this time for a different reason. He really is not a Coors Lite person, at all.

\--

After explaining to his parents how he lost his job, they decided that he’s too old to be grounded, and also to only start looking for a new job once he feels ready. That could have gone worse, he thinks.

\--

“So. I think we need to do something.”

Mark looks up from his phone to glance across the room at Jackson. “For what?” He says not really listening, or caring.

“About …? Jinyoung? We got him fired.”

Mark looks up, staring at the wall just behind Jackson, rather than directly at him. “ _We?_ ”

“Well, I mean, you were in on _some_ of it?”

Mark scoffs and stares down at his phone. “Literally all I said was, and I quote, ‘wouldn’t it be funny if all of us ended up getting fired’ and then you reacted by _literally_ drawing the plan out on your wall, then texting Jinyoung your idea, taking my phone away from me and trying to put it out of my reach—despite the fact I’m taller than you—“

“By like a _centimeter_.”

“—so I couldn’t contact Jinyoung and tell him not to listen to you, so I took your phone, and finally you started wrestling it away from me, breaking a vase in the process.” Mark sits back on the sofa, kicking his feet on the decrepit coffee table as he says this, “you hid in a _closet_. Then _stole_ my debit card, and bought shitty beer with it. I honestly don’t know why I’m still friends with you. Coors Lite? I wouldn’t even feed that to a garbage can.”

“Do you think he’s mad at me?”

“Um, yeah. At least, I would assume yes?”

Mark mutters something under his breath about Coors once again, before letting the issue settle.

“I mean, he hated his job anyway, right?” Jackson paces from the dining room to the living room a few times. “We can throw a party?”

“I don’t think Jinyoung wants a party. I think he wants his job back… or a car, or whatever.”

“Can you ask him what he wants?”

Mark puts his phone down. “No.” He’s staring right at Jackson. Jackson no longer feels the need to press the issue.

“Okay, I’ll figure something out. I’ll be right back!”

With that, Jackson was slamming the side door hard enough for Mark to feel the resounding rattle.

Jackson’s minivan putters along as he makes his way down the familiar length of road that leads to Jinyoung’s house. He parks out front, killing the engine and shutting off the lights (He’s since learned not to leave the lights on, after having to ask his ex-boss—whose car he did _not_ bang with a shopping cart—to help jump start him.) then makes his way to the front door.

He was expecting, when he rung the door bell, for his dog to bark, and maybe his dad answer the door, but it was in fact Jinyoung standing at the door, with a neutral expression.

“Hey, so…”

“Jacks I—“ Both start.

“Jinyoung—“

“No, no, Jackson, listen—“

“What?”

“I’m sorry.”

“No… that’s what _I_ came here to say.”

Jinyoung rolls his eyes, opens the door further, and gestures for Jackson to get in.

“No, really. Let me finish. I’m sorry.” Jinyoung says once they’re both inside the rec room.

“But, why?”

“I don’t know? I guess for helping me get fired. Not to sound weird, but I was actually making my own plans to somehow get myself fired? Not that I would have gone through with them. But… I mean, I guess I _did_ hate it there. You were just doing me a favour. Though I really, really, like, really, wish you could have done something a little less… over the top.”

Jackson stares at the brick wall outlining what used to be a fire place turned built in entertainment stand.

“Yeah, well… you know me. I can’t do ‘small’”

At this, Jinyoung finally cracks a smile.

“Anyway, all that dumb feelings shit aside, where is the PlayStation controller?” Jackson says as he climbs onto the futon. Jinyoung’s smile drops, and he rolls his eyes.

“Dumbass, you’re sitting on it.”

\--

“Tell us that story with that woman and the bag of rotten baby carrots.”

“Ugh,” Jaebum groans, “God, no, it was horrible.”

Some crappy rock song is playing in the background, while Jackson’s back deck slowly fills with less and less familiar faces. Jackson ran into Jaebum a few weeks back, and somehow coerced him into joining them for an end of summer get-together.

A few people try encouraging Jaebum to get on with his story, he relents.

“Okay, it was stupid, some woman brought in a bag of baby carrots, absolutely rotted. I’m talking some were entirely liquidus. She had them wrapped in a plastic shopping bag. She was making a return, so I had to dig through the bag for the barcode so I could issue a refund. All the while she was laughing her head off. And for a moment there, I completely lost my cool. I won’t go into detail. I still can’t believe I raised my voice like that.” He ends abruptly by taking a sip from his plastic cup.

The one good thing about no one having a job at the moment, was that they were all able to get together like this, drink as much as they want, and not have to worry about being late or hungover for work the next day.

Jinyoung sits on the counter of the kitchen, while Yugyeom tries out his amateur bar tending skills. He was chatting to no one in particular about how when he’s graduated and old enough, he’s going to work on taking a bartending course. Jinyoung doesn’t bring up how his interests change every five minutes, and by the time he graduates he’ll most likely want to be a car mechanic. In the middle of his rambling Youngjae managed to wander into the kitchen, surprising Yugyeom by jabbing him in the ribs from behind. Yugyeom spilled some of the booze on his shirt and on the floor as he lets out a loud whiny yelp. Jinyoung watches from his perch, cackling at Yugyeom’s misfortune.

“By the way, Youngjae, everyone knows the story of how the five of us got fired… no one knows how _you_ got fired.” Yugyeom turns to look at Youngjae, also curious.

“What?” Youngjae starts, waving his hands in front of him. “I didn’t get fired!” He lets his hands fall to his sides. “I quit! After I heard about Yugyeom getting fired, I put in my two weeks. I’d feel bad if I was the only person still working there…”

Jinyoung practically coos, as he hops off the counter and tries to envelop Youngjae into a patronising hug. Youngjae squirms and wriggles free making a mad dash for the back door, before Jinyoung could get his way.

“Ah! No, wait!” Yugyeom takes after him, leaving his experimental bartending mess behind him.

Jinyoung’s eyes crinkle as he smiles, and turns toward the dining room in search of Mark.

He finds him sitting on his ever favourite crusty carpet in a circle, with a bong cast to the side. A familiar face sits next to him.

“Ah, McDonald’s dude!” Jinyoung shouts

He shouts back “Ah! The dude that we were just talking about. Best way to get fired, hands down.”

Jinyoung squirms, trying to hide his discomfort about his termination. It’s still a fresh wound; he still has nightmares about it. “Do you still work there? There was a grease fire.”

“There was. Guess who caused it. Also while you’re at it, take a wild guess who still doesn’t have eyebrows.”

“Oh my god.” Jinyoung takes the spot on the other side of Mark, then notices the hat he has pulled down covering his entire forehead, expertly hiding his eyebrows (or lack thereof.)

“I’m Bambam by the way, in case you were wondering.” He offers his hand, Jinyoung takes it loosely in his own. “I’m the weed guy. I bring the good stuff.”

Jinyoung nods his head, and takes a look at Mark’s bloodshot eyes. “I can see that.”

“Wanna hit?”

“No thanks.”

“I’ll take it,” Mark finally pipes up.

“No way man, you’re cut off.”

Mark laughs lightly as he stands up, nearly falling backwards, which really just causes him to laugh more. “Take me to the beer.” He points in a nonsensical direction, Jinyoung takes this as his que to show him to the back porch. Jackson and Jaebum were sitting on the wicker chairs, Jackson talking animatedly about something, while Jaebum stared listlessly, looking about half asleep. Jackson grins at the sight of a nearly conked out Mark and his human crutch, Jinyoung.

“Hey what’s up, sickos. Jae was just telling me about his new job.”

Jaebum quirked an eyebrow, sitting up a little, the chair creaking in the process. “Well, almost new job. I don’t start until next week.” He rubs the tip of his nose with the sleeve of his flannel shirt. “Overnight stock. The best part? Not having to deal with customers.”

“It’s perfect for you.” Jinyoung enthuses.

“Here’s hoping.” Jaebum grins. “What about you all? What are your plans?” Jaebum gestures at the other three.

Jinyoung shrugs. “My classes are starting soon.”

“Oh yea, Eng Lit, right?”

Jinyoung nods.

Jackson sighs, “Man, I should go to uni.” He runs his fingers through his hair a few times, suddenly not caring about how it looks. He continues “I’m thinking about applying at the 7-11, I have a buddy that works there. I mean you get to deal with some crazy characters, but I don’t think it’ll be too bad.”

“Mark, you have classes starting up soon, right?”

Mark disconnects himself from Jinyoung, ignoring Jaebum’s question, and leans against the railing, suddenly more interested in what’s happening in the expanse of the backyard. “Hey, who’s making out on the trampoline?”

Yugyeom’s distinctive whine could be heard despite the distance.

Jaebum jumps up from his seat and calls out to the two shapes on the trampoline “Hey, get your hands off him.”

Youngjae’s loud, yet embarrassed laugh resounds.

“Aw, they’re so cute.” Jinyoung coos.

Jackson gets up as well. “Well fiddle dee dum, how slash when the hell did they happen?”

Jinyoung shrugs his shoulders, Jaebum grimaces. Mark is still laughing.

“Ha, ha, okay guys, let’s give them some privacy. Let’s go see if there is anything interesting on the boob tube, other than the banner telling me to pay my cable bill.” Jackson says as he attempts to herd the small crowd forming back into the house.

“We’re talking about this later.” Jaebum finalizes.

Not long after popping Back to the Future into the VCR player, they’re joined by two embarrassed looking boys, with their hands laced together.

“Hmm, hm, hmmmm…” Jackson hums, drawing attention to the newcomers.

“Oh my god, no way!” Bambam all but screeches.

“Shut up!” Yugyeom hollers back. “Leave us alone.”

Youngjae laughs, covering his quickly reddening face with his free hand.

 “Watch your damn movie, or I’m kicking you all out!” Jaebum grumbles, as if he even as the authority to do that.

Jinyoung manages a spot on the cramped couch between Jaebum and Jackson. Jaebum’s practically leaning over the arm rest for some personal space. Jackson immediately rests his head on Jinyoung’s shoulder. Jinyoung thinks about the rest of the year, about when his classes start, and how he’ll see less and less of everyone the busier he gets. Not to mention, how everyone seems to be going in different directions, and how daily life won’t be this easy anymore. For a moment, Jinyoung is glad things went the way they did. He is honestly glad he got fired. Screw a car, this is what he needs most. That is until Jackson begins lightly snoring in his ear, and the damp drool spot on his shirt forces him to snap out of his blanked (blissed?) out state to push Jackson’s heavy head off his shoulder. His head bobs slightly, before resting slightly to the side, in a way that does _not_ look comfortable. Jinyoung would feel bad if he hadn’t paid forty dollars for this sweater.

The future holds a lot of possibilities for him, and Jinyoung hopes he doesn't fuck it up as badly as he and his friends did this summer. Safe to say he never wants to see another Walmart as long as he lives, and Walmart probably doesn't want to see him.

**Author's Note:**

> i have a lot of ideas for this verse? i guess, if u want to see more, i'll probably write more! i'm happy to talk more about it too? if u had questions or ideas... i'd like to hear them!  
> hahah, i didn't really know how to end this really, so hopefully it's not too weird.


End file.
